Outcasts and Outlaws

Volume 3, Chapter 37

Epilogue

Just a quick little epilogue for this volume. I changed the music to one I think evokes the emotions a little better.

Music: https/youtu.be/fV3Fu5csdcA [Re Zero Insert Song: Rem- Wishing]

About a year later, Connor stood up on the main stage of Beacons entrance hall, the faces of many students new and old alike looking up at him. He was stood behind a pedestal, having been asked by Ozpin to make a speech, the rest of his team behind him. He hadn't prepared any words, Ozpin had sprung it on him quite suddenly, so he just said what came to mind and hoped it would suffice.

"Today is my last day at Beacon Academy." He spoke, loudly enough for all in the hall to hear him. "I've been here for two years now, not here for all of it, but enough. During those two years, I experienced great joy and great dread, everything from unbelievably terrible situations to shining happy ones. I've been hurt, I've seen the ones I care about being hurt. At the end of the day, I learned one important lesson from all my time here at Beacon, something that I hope you will all take on as well, carrying on the Beacon spirit. Find someone to care about, to care for, that's where true strength comes from. Don't settle for raw power, having someone to fight for is so much more special." He then stopped for a moment and held out a hand towards a certain individual in the crowd. "Come up here, Rubes."

Ruby did just that, standing up and weaving through the crowd to get to the stage as everyone watched her, wondering why she was so important. When she was up next to Connor, he put his arm around her, their wedding rings glistening in the sun as it shine through the window at the front of the hall, and continued, "Ruby Rose, the one I care about. Find someone like this." He told the students. "If you can find someone to care about and care for like I do Ruby, then protect that person with all your willpower. You can spend the rest of your life protecting them if you want to, I know I will."

Coming to the end of his speech, Connor finalised, "So that's it I guess, that's all I want to say to you all. With that, Team Kalos and all the others on this stage with me today, leave Beacon to begin our lives as hunters and huntresses. Sayonara." Thus his speech was concluded, the team's being met with a round of applause as they walked out of Beacon, never to return there as students, going out into the world to fend for themselves."

A couple of days afterward, Connor and Ruby stood with Ozpin in front of a house on a street in Vale. The conjoined house was perfectly beautiful, looking small from the outside but being big enough for the two of them. Ozpin had brought the house for the two as a gift to celebrate them leaving Beacon, Connor holding the keys in one hand whilst his other was holdings Ruby's tightly.

"Thanks again, old man. I'll pay you back for this some day." Connor said gratefully, still looking the house up and down.

"No need, you have earned it, plus..." Ozpin replied, trailing off before continuing his sentence. Connor wondered what he was going to say and why he had hesitated, then the words. "I have always thought of you sort of like a grandson."

A gentle breeze flew past the three of them, their hair and clothes flapping in the wind. Connor looked at Ozpin, emotions rising within him as the headmaster continued. "When I first found you, after you were separated from Mars and had nowhere to go, many of my colleagues told me to leave you. They rightly said you would have been able to fend for yourself, but I was worried." He monologued, Connor and Ruby closely listening. "I saw the darkness in your heart, in Kane's, and I knew that if you were left alone it would only develop further. I predicted you would be trapped in a cycle of hate and misery, perhaps becoming something akin to what Murlough was. I took you to Beacon with the hope that somehow it would help you avoid that path of life, and within mere days the people you met proved that it was possible. You overcame obstacle after obstacle, defeating every barrier in your path and continuing forward, with a certain someone in your heart."

Ruby blushes at that when she realised it was her Ozpin was referring to, hugging tighter to Connor's arm and hiding her embarrassed face. "What I am trying to say Connor, is that you are more to me than just a student. I've watched you develop as a person and a fighter, you are like a grandson to me." Ozpin finished, then looked at the watch on his wrist and exclaimed, "Oh, I'd better be going now, I'll be late for the new student trials."

As Ozpin walked away, Connor desperately wanted to say something to him. He wanted to tell him he was thankful or perhaps something more. He couldn't find the words, they wouldn't reach his throat, all he could manage was, "I'll make you proud."

Smiling as he continued to stroll away down the street, Ozpin simply replied, "Make me proud? You did that a long time ago Connor, a long time ago."

Tears welled up in Connor's eyes as Ozpin left. The two of them hadn't ever conveyed their feelings for each other all that much, but they both knew what they were to each other. They were like family, as close to one as Connor had had for a long time. A tear ran down his cheek silently as he tried not to fall apart, Ruby growing concerned when she saw the tear. "Connor, what's wrong?"

Wiping the tears from his face with his sleeve and clearing his throat as he pretended that he hadn't been crying, Connor held his up high and hugged Ruby close to him as they stood in front of their new home. "Yeah, I'm fine." He said, his voice still a little shaky. "Everything's perfect."

Connor awoke many hours later, in the middle of the night, Ruby nudging him and calling his name. Opening his eyes, he saw that they were both laying on their new bed in the pyjamas. "You fell asleep when I was talking to you." Ruby said with a giggle, moving closer to Connor and tapping their noses together.

Connor chuckled back at her and looked into her eyes, so happy to finally be with her like this, in a home together. "We've been through a lot..." He muttered quietly, feeling himself size of again as Ruby snuggled up next to him. "We're gonna go through a lot more, and I'll be here with you every step of the way."

Years later, the sunlight fell on three picture frames on the table of their living room. On the far left was a picture of Connor with the rest of his team, all of them in their new outfits. On the right was a picture of Nora grinning widely for a photograph with Irileth and Yang, both of them laughing at her expression. The final picture, the picture in the middle, showed Connor and Ruby. Their young son stood in front of them, and another newborn baby in Ruby's arms.

They lived happily ever after...

...or did they?

VOLUME 4 COMING SOON